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Yancey: Cumberland County teacher is a model for how he’s led students to research state’s history

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

In March 2023, a historical marker was unveiled at Roanoke College. The subject matter was unusual enough: It recognized Kim Kyusik, a leader in the Korean independence movement, who had been a student at the Salem school in the early 1900s. At a time when segregation was the order of the day in Virginia, Roanoke College had made a concerted effort to recruit students from Korea. Between 1894 and 1930, some 30 Korean students matriculated at Roanoke College. Research by Roanoke College professors Whitney Leeson and Stella Xu suggests that Roanoke College at the time had more Korean students than any other college in the United States.

VaNews May 3, 2024


Youngkin announces formal relationship between Virginia National Guard, Finland

By WILL GONZALEZ, WRIC-TV

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who is currently traveling through Europe on an international trade mission, has announced a formal relationship between the Virginia National Guard (VNG) and Finland. According to Youngkin’s office, the Virginia National Guard was selected as the U.S. partner to Finland as part of the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program. Youngkin took part in an official state partnership signing ceremony at the Finnish Ministry of Defense in Helsinki to commemorate the relationship.

VaNews May 3, 2024


Bedford County School Board cuts damages sought in lawsuit against parent to $1

By LISA ROWAN, Cardinal News

The Bedford County School Board has reduced the price tag on its lawsuit against a parent from $600,000 to just $1. The school board sued David Rife for damages of $600,000 in late March, alleging he used crude language and threatened police and legal action during repeated calls to the school district about his son. Rife’s son, who attends Staunton River High School, is on an individualized education program for a learning disability, but Rife has claimed repeatedly over the course of several years that his son wasn’t receiving the services outlined in his plan.

VaNews May 3, 2024


UVa student protest diminishes in size as it enters third day

By EMILY HEMPHILL, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

A student-led protest at the University of Virginia remained peaceful but had noticeably diminished in size as it entered its third day Thursday. UVa’s demonstration stands in stark contrast to how larger anti-Israel protests have unfolded across the country and the commonwealth. As of Thursday evening, there were roughly 40 protesters on UVa Grounds, mostly concentrated near the chapel adjacent to the university’s landmark Rotunda.

VaNews May 3, 2024


Friday Read Centuries ago, Black freedmen found refuge harvesting oysters. A descendant carries on their legacy.

By KATHERINE HAFNER, WHRO

On a warm spring morning, Mary Hill is on a boat working her oyster grounds just north of the Crittenden Bridge in Chuckatuck Creek. “I’ve got about 500 acres out here,” she says, pointing to markers dotting the creek, which feeds into the Nansemond River. Thousands of oysters in buckets already line the boat’s perimeter while Hill and two colleagues lower a dredge into the water. The metal cage scrapes the bottom of the oyster beds. The crew raise it up, dump the bounty and start sifting through oyster shells, tossing small ones back into the water to replenish the reefs. To Hill, these mornings out on the water are more than just a job. It’s her family legacy.

VaNews May 3, 2024


Police raze pro-Palestine encampment at VCU; students outraged

By ANDREW KERLEY, SARAH HAGEN, JACK GLAGOLA AND THAILON WILSON, Commonwealth Times

Pro-Palestine VCU students protested what they called the ongoing genocide in Gaza on Monday, April 29, by building an encampment on campus. The protest began with song and dance and ended with pepper spray, smoke bombs and 13 arrests by police. The incident comes amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests and consequential arrests on college campuses across the country. In Virginia, at least 94 protesters in total have been arrested at Virginia Tech and the University of Mary Washington over the last week. Students started peaceful protests at the University of Virginia and Christopher Newport University on Tuesday, April 30, and at James Madison University on Wednesday, May 1, according to reports by multiple Virginia newspapers.

VaNews May 3, 2024


Rural Loudoun Residents Hear Opposition Strategies to NextEra Power Line

By HANNA PAMPALONI, Loudoun Now

Nearly 200 residents filled the banquet hall at the Lovettsville Fire and Rescue Station Wednesday night for a meeting hosted by the Lovettsville chapter of the Loudoun Transmission Line Alliance about the proposed transmission line by NextEra Energy expected to cut through the western part of the county to Leesburg. The meeting was led by Alliance member Mary Terpak and included presentations by Piedmont Environmental Council Senior Land Use Planner Tia Earman, Waterford Foundation President Sue Manch and Scenic Loudoun Legal Defense representative Tom Donahue.

VaNews May 3, 2024


Kiggans backs bill to extend affordable internet; Dems say she’s tardy

By CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

As a federal program that offsets internet costs to families in need has expired, Congress is seeking both short- and long-term solutions. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-2nd, signed onto a bill to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program on Wednesday, months after its introduction and as the program expired. The timing prompted a rebuke from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

VaNews May 3, 2024


These are the people who will decide Metro’s future

By NATE DOUGHTY, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) have created a task force charged with developing a unified vision for the region’s transportation system and coming up with a sustainable funding model for Metro that is palatable to political leaders in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The task force, dubbed DMV Moves, was unveiled in D.C. Wednesday at the first-ever joint board meeting of two organizations. The 20-person task force will be made up primarily of political leaders across D.C., Virginia and Maryland appointed by the Council of Governments as well as four representatives appointed by Metro.

VaNews May 3, 2024


Adkins: 250 years later, Native Americans have a chance to reclaim the narrative

By STEPHEN R. ADKINS, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is a momentous occasion for the United States. It’s a time to celebrate the ideals enshrined in that document — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, for the Chickahominy people and other Native American tribes, this anniversary carries a more complex weight. The declaration, for all its eloquence, wasn’t written with us in mind. It spoke of freedom from tyranny, a right blatantly denied to my ancestors through broken treaties and forced removal from our lands.

Adkins is chief and tribal administrator of the Chickahominy Tribe in Providence Ford, a member of the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission and chair of the commission’s Tribal Nations Leadership Advisory Council.

VaNews May 3, 2024